Secret Diary
Secret Diary is the debut studio album by American mashup artist Girl Talk, released on November 13, 2002. Like the majority of Girl Talk's output, it makes heavy use of sampling from other popular music. Just as apparent is the heavy use of glitch music styles on the album, which he would later minimize or abandon entirely on future albums. Secret Diary established Girl Talk's reputation within the electronic noise music community. Release Secret Diary was Girl Talk's first album to be released on the independent record label Illegal Art, where almost all of his records have since been released. The album was released in CD and digital format on November 13, 2002. On January 5, 2010, Illegal Art made the album available for purchase on their website using a "pay what you want" pricing system. To commemorate its 10th anniversary on November 13, 2012, Illegal Art pressed a picture disc 12" vinyl edition of Secret Diary limited to 500 copies. Title and cover The Secret Diary album cover is a recolorized version of the box art for the truth-or-dare board game Girl Talk, which serves as a reference to Girl Talk himself. The title of the album itself is a reference to a special edition of the game entitled Secret Diary, released in 1991. Critical reception Stephen Cramer of AllMusic rated Secret Diary 3 stars out of 5, calling the album a "dizzying, yet listenable, collection of collage songs" and "refreshingly new, despite its use of very familiar songs." |publisher=Rovi Corporation |accessdate=2014-01-25 |author=Cramer, Stephen}} A Sputnikmusic staff review was negative, with writer DaveyBoy grading the album 1.0/5. His review summary read: "A headache inducing glitch that should have remained a secret. Genuinely unlistenable to at times." In an interview with Girl Talk, Mark Richardson of Pitchfork Media retrospectively described Secret Diary and its follow-up Unstoppable as "far noisier and much more abstract" than his later releases. Pop Bunker wrote that Secret Diary has "more in common with the glitch/electro sound of Kid606 and Aphex Twin than the DJ-friendly pop styles Girl Talk exhibits today." Track listing # "Let's Start This Party Right" – 2:26 # "I Want You Back" – 3:27 # "Ffun Haave To" – 5:12 # "What If..." – 4:22 # "Time to Get Glamorous" – 4:51 # "Unicorn vs. Gravity" – 2:16 # "The Right Stuff" – 5:48 # "Fun in the Sun" – 3:44 # "Jumpin(g)" – 3:23 # "Friends 4-Ever" – 4:14 Samples "Let's Start This Party Right" * 0:00 — 2 Unlimited – "Get Ready for This" * 0:45 — Alice Deejay – "Better Off Alone" * 0:47 — 2 Unlimited – "Twilight Zone" * 0:48 — Reel 2 Real – "I Like to Move It" * 1:11 — Jagged Edge featuring Nelly – "Where the Party At" * 1:18 — Vengaboys – "We Like to Party" * 1:27 — Baha Men – "Who Let the Dogs Out?" * 1:33 — 2Pac featuring Snoop Dogg – "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" * 1:33 — Cher – "Believe" * 1:49 — Haddaway – "What Is Love" * 2:02 — C+C Music Factory – "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)" "I Want You Back" * 0:00 — Derek B – "Get Down" * 0:04 — The Jackson 5 – "I Want You Back" * 0:24 — Lil' Romeo – "My Baby" * 0:33 — Jay-Z – "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" * 0:37 — Kris Kross – "Jump" "Ffun Haave To" * 0:32 — Cyndi Lauper – "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" "What If..." * 0:00 — Joan Osborne – "One of Us" * 0:16 — Cash Money Millionaires – "Project Bitch" "Unicorn vs. Gravity" * 0:00 — The Price Is Right theme song * 0:01 — Jay-Z – "Jigga My Nigga" "The Right Stuff" * 0:00 — Master P featuring Mystikal, Silkk the Shocker, and Mia X – "Make 'Em Say Uhh!" * 0:49 — New Kids on the Block – "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" "Fun in the Sun" * 0:00 — Shaggy featuring Rayvon – "In the Summertime" * 0:02 — DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – "Summertime" * 0:07 — Sublime – "Doin' Time" * 0:08 — Big Brother and the Holding Company – "Summertime" * 0:13 — Alice Cooper – "School's Out" "Jumpin(g)" * 0:00 — Destiny's Child – "Jumpin', Jumpin'" "Friends 4-Ever" * 0:00 — Papa Roach – "Last Resort" * 1:13 — Limp Bizkit – "Break Stuff" * 1:15 — Korn – "Freak on a Leash" * 1:15 — Limp Bizkit – "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" * 1:39 — Limp Bizkit – "Nookie" * 2:14 — Korn – "A.D.I.D.A.S." Release history Personnel * Gregg Gillis – music * Matt Wellins – music (featured artist) * Andrew Strasser – artwork Trivia * The album's second track, "I Want You Back", takes it title from the fact that the four known songs sampled on the track themselves contain samples of "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5. * Track four, "What If...", was apparently originally intended to be titled "What If God Was a Project Bitch". This was apparently changed by Girl Talk himself to avoid offending his parents. * The samples used in "Friends 4Ever" all originate from popular nu metal tracks of the late 1990s and early 2000s (including three by Limp Bizkit, arguably the most well-known artist of the genre). References External links * Secret Diary on Wikipedia * Secret Diary on Illegal Tracklist * Secret Diary on the Illegal Art website * Category:Girl Talk albums Category:Studio albums